Site Search Navigation

Site Navigation

Site Mobile Navigation

Good Decision on Keystone XL

By Andrew Rosenthal January 18, 2012 5:19 pmJanuary 18, 2012 5:19 pm

President Obama has at times failed to stand up for his principles (or at least what I thought were his principles) under the relentless Republican campaign to deny him anything he wants, even if the nation badly needs it.

Today, however, Mr. Obama didn’t play to type. He formally rejected a proposal by the Canadian company TransCanada to build a pipeline that would carry heavy crude oil 1,700 miles across the United States – posing environmental and health hazards along the way and doing basically nothing to create long-term jobs or reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

Congressional Republicans had tried to coerce Mr. Obama into approving the pipeline, which the deep-pocketed oil industry loves, by inserting a 60-day deadline for a decision into a must-pass bill extending the payroll tax cut. That was not enough time to finish studying the potential environmental impact of the pipeline. The scam did not work.

In adopting the State Department’s recommendation to reject the proposal, Mr. Obama said: “This announcement is not a judgment on the merits of the pipeline, but the arbitrary nature of a deadline that prevented the State Department from gathering the information necessary to approve the project and protect the American people.” It would have been nice if he had also passed judgment on the project itself, but still it was a good move.

The reaction from pipeline supporters was tediously predictable. “President Obama is about to destroy tens of thousands of American jobs and sell energy security to the Chinese,” said Brendan Buck, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner.

Tens of thousands of jobs destroyed? That would be just horrible. Except it’s not true. The federal government has estimated (and TransCanada concurs) that the project would create 6,000 to 6,500 temporary construction jobs at best, for two years.

As for selling our energy security to the Chinese, it’s hard to know what Mr. Buck was talking about. The pipeline would provide crude oil for refineries on the Gulf Coast, but most of their output is destined for export, anyway.

We’re certain to hear a lot more about this in coming months as the 2012 campaign gets under way. I can only hope that voters will take a minute to look at the facts and not fall for the lie that Keystone could have truly helped—let alone saved—the American economy.